Left Liberals, the State, and Popular Politics in Wilhelmine Germany

Alastair P. Thompson

Left Liberals, the State, and Popular Politics in Wilhelmine Germany

Alastair P. Thompson

Description

This study investigates Left Liberals in Wilhelmine Germany, with case studies ranging from Kiel to Kattowitz. Overturning old notions of German liberalism as the helpless victim of mass mobilization and political polarization, this book explains increasing left liberal influence and support on the eve of the First World War and shows why liberal values could not be consolidated after 1918.

Left Liberals, the State, and Popular Politics in Wilhelmine Germany

Alastair P. Thompson

Table of Contents

IntroductionMen, Machinery, and Mission 1. Locating the Left Liberals2. Hard-Working Honoratioren: The Mechanics of Left Liberal Politics3. Liberal Policy: Faded Remnants or New DawnExecutive, Parties, and Public Opinion. The Left Liberals in National Politics, 1907-1914 4. Left Liberal Parliamentarians5. The Left Liberals in National Politics, 1907-19126. Defending the Reich: Left Liberals and Domestic Politics from January 1912 to the July Crisis 1914Left Liberals in Local Society 7. Mass Politics and Party Pacts: Left Liberals in Baden, 1905-19148. Persuading the Protestant Mittelstand: Left Liberals in Schleswig-Holstein9. Continuity and Change: Left Liberals in Silesian Politics and SocietyConclusion - Victory in Defeat and Defeat in Victory: Left Liberal Politics and the First World WarBibliography